The field of the disclosure relates generally to rotary machines, and more particularly, to a turbine blade with damper pin slot features that facilitate reduced stress peaks and gradients within a shank of the blade.
At least some known rotary machines include a compressor, a combustor coupled downstream from the compressor, a turbine coupled downstream from the combustor, and a rotor shaft rotatably coupled between the compressor and the turbine. Some known turbines include at least one rotor disk coupled to the rotor shaft, and a plurality of circumferentially-spaced turbine blades that extend outward from each rotor disk to define a stage of the turbine. Each turbine blade includes an airfoil that extends radially outward from a platform towards a turbine casing.
At least some known turbine blades include a shank and dovetail radially inward of the platform to facilitate coupling the blade to the rotor disk. In addition, at least some known shanks include a damper pin slot configured to receive a damper pin. An operational life cycle of at least some turbine blades is limited at least in part by wear resulting from transient interactions between the damper pin slot and the damper pin. However, modifications to the damper pin slot are difficult to implement, due to a need both to accommodate damper pin loads and to transfer pull loads from airfoil to the shank.